Eduardo Dantas

Eduardo Dantas (born February 3, 1989) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist who competes in the bantamweight division. A professional MMA competitor since 2007, Dantas has mostly fought for Shooto Brazil, where he has competed for the Shooto 132-pound world title. He is the current Bellator Bantamweight champion. Dantas is currently ranked as the #5 bantamweight in the world and the #1 bantamweight outside of the UFC by fightmatrix.com.^[1]

Mixed martial arts career

Background

Dantas trains with Nova União.^[2] Dantas has also shown a tendency in his career to prefer the striking game.^[3]

Shooto Brazil

After compiling a record of 3–1, including a win over Shooto champ Shinichi Kojima, Dantas main evented Shooto Brazil 5. Dantas attempted multiple striking techniques including flying knees, before finishing his opponent with punches to the stomach.^[4]

Soon after, Dantas won the Shooto South American 132 lb title, which he owned up going into his fight against Ueda.^[5]

Dantas would next compete for the Shooto 132-pound world title. At that time, his opponent, Masakatsu Ueda was ranked as the #2 bantamweight in the world.^[6]

In a three round bout, Dantas was able to rock his opponent on a number of occasions, but suffered a point deduction after holding the ropes to prevent a takedown from Ueda. Dantas would go on to lose the bout 29–28, 29–28, 30–28.^[7]

Dantas later bounced back with a TKO victory over Carlos Roberto in the second round.^[8] This was followed by a submission victory at The Way of Shooto 3 in May 2010.^[9]

Dantas was next set to defend his Shooto South American 132 lb Championship in a rematch with Luis Alberto Nogueira, but the bout was cancelled.^[10]

Bellator Fighting Championships

In the fall of 2011, Dantas entered Bellator's Season Five Bantamweight Tournament. He defeated Wilson Reis via second round KO in the quarter-final round and Ed West by split decision in the semi-final round in order to advance to the finals.

In the finals, he defeated Alexis Vila via unanimous decision to become the tournament champion.

Eduardo challenged champion Zach Makovsky at Bellator 65 on April 13, 2012 for the Bellator Bantamweight title. He won the fight via technical submission in the second round.

In August 2012, Dantas faced Tyson Nam in a fight outside of Bellator. Dantas had been permitted by Bellator to fight against Nam, as the fight took place outside of the United States and wouldn't be aired on television in the U.S. either.^[11] The two faced off at Shooto Brazil 33: Fight for BOPE II in an event that served as a fundraiser for the "Batalhao de Operacoes Policiais Especiais" (Special Police Operations Battalion), which was Rio de Janeiro's military special forces.^[12] Although Dantas rocked Nam early with a knee, he was knocked out in the first round by a counter right hook after he rushed forward aggressively.^[12]

On February 2013, Dantas defended his title against, good friend and team mate, Marcos Galvão at Bellator 89. He finished Galvão in the 2nd round via knock out.

It was reported that Dantas had injured his ankle and won't be able to return until 2014 to defend his belt against Rafael Silva.^[13] It was announced on January 9, 2014 that Dantas will defend his belt against Rafael Silva on March 7, 2014.^[14] However, Silva suffered a knee injury and was replaced by runner-up Anthony Leone.^[15] Dantas successfully defended his title, winning via rear-naked choke submission in the second round.

Dantas was scheduled to face Bellator Season 9 Bantamweight Tournament winner Joe Warren at Bellator 118. However, Dantas suffered a head injury and withdrew from the bout. Rafael Silva then faced Warren for the interim title.^[16]

Dantas faced Joe Warren in a title unification bout on October 10, 2014 at Bellator 128.^[17] He lost the fight and bantamweight championship title via unanimous decision.

Dantas was expected to face Mike Richman on March 27, 2015 at Bellator 135.^[18] However, the bout was removed from the fight card after Richman suffered an undisclosed injury.^[19] The fight eventually took place at Bellator 137 on May 15, 2015, despite Richman not making weight.^[20][21] Dantas won the back-and-forth fight by unanimous decision. In addition, Richman failed a post-fight drug screening.^[22]

Dantas was originally scheduled to face former teammate Marcos Galvao in a rematch for the Bellator Bantamweight Championship title at Bellator 150, but the match was scrapped following a last-minute illness suffered by Galvao. The rematch eventually took place on June 17, 2016 at Bellator 156. Dantas regained the championship, winning by unanimous decision.

In his first title defense during his second stint as champion, Dantas faced Joe Warren in a rematch in the main event at Bellator 166 on December 2, 2016. Dantas was successful this time against Warren, winning the fight via majority decision.

Championships and accomplishments

• Bellator Fighting Championships
  • Bellator Bantamweight Championship (Two times; current)
  • Two Successful Title Defenses
  • Bellator Season 5 Bantamweight Tournament Winner
• Shooto Brazil
  • Shooto South American Featherweight Championship (One time)

Mixed martial arts record

^[9]

See also

• List of male mixed martial artists

References

External links

• Professional MMA record for Eduardo Dantas from Sherdog